MK close at 4:30 PM & Genie+ Strategy

[planplanplan]

We're headed to WDW for a three park day trip next week and made our park reservations months ago. Apparently I wasn't sufficiently following Disney news and just learned that MK will be closing at 4:30 PM on our only planned day at MK. With a 5 and 8 yo, this is a real bummer, but am mildly hopeful that lighter crowds may make up for the short day to some extent.

I'd love to get feedback on my Genie+ strategy. This will be an odd day, so there is limited info available about what to expect. My plan is to rope drop MK headliners and use Genie+ to get on as many second tier rides as we can by choosing rides with short return times so we can make new selections quickly. My assumption is that LLs are going to run out fairly early given that MK won't have any afternoon or evening options. I'm going to skip Jungle Cruise and Peter Pan entirely as these eat up hours of Genie+ options.

Once the MK options are gone, my plan is to try to stack evening LL at Epcot. We'll hop there via monorail after MK closes. My expectation is that Epcot is going to be insanely busy with MK closed so we'll pretty much only be willing to do rides with a LL. I have no idea what will be available given the odd schedule, but even Living with the Land or Mission Space may benefit from a LL if Epcot is overrun.

Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated.

 

[Angelboys3]

Following for replies. Our MK day is also an early closure with plans to hop to Epcot afterwards. I was wondering how G+ would work in this this situation

 

[snikki]

If history is any indicator MK will have VERY low crowds that day. Most people will avoid MK due to the early closing. You most likely won’t even need G+ that day. I would hit MK at RD and start stacking at Epcot starting at 7 am. Epcot will be busy and the LL will have more value at Epcot. If this was FP+ days I would’ve made all of my FP+ at Epcot also.

 

[georgina]

Please report back whatever strategy you use! We will be at MK on 5/15 which is also a 4:30 close. I wasn't going to purchase G+ for that day, as we will be going back for the deluxe evening hours on the 17th, which is now sold out day for MK park reservations so that may be crowded. We will be hopping over from AK, so if we don't get to do everything on the 15th I may try to use G+ for some evening MK rides on the 17th.

 

[planplanplan]

If history is any indicator MK will have VERY low crowds that day. Most people will avoid MK due to the early closing. You most likely won’t even need G+ that day. I would hit MK at RD and start stacking at Epcot starting at 7 am. Epcot will be busy and the LL will have more value at Epcot. If this was FP+ days I would’ve made all of my FP+ at Epcot also.

My kids will be pretty beat after rope dropping MK and without a mid day break, so we may only do 1-2 rides in Epcot, especially if it's very crowded. My expectation is that we'll get off the monorail, ride a couple of rides towards the front of the park with LL, walk through part of International Showcase while picking up some food, and exit at the back to take the Skyliner back to AoA. If MK doesn't need LL then I may try to get an evening LL for Frozen, as it's on our route.

If my kids are doing okay and the park isn't insanely busy, maybe we'll do a bit more, but I have low expectations for both.

 

[AnnabelleTheTalkingTree]

We will also be in MK on a 4:30 closure day - and like you, we have plans to hop to Epcot later on. I actually planned it intentionally since the crowds will probably be low in MK and we have hoppers anyway. I think it will actually a great day to be in MK! My plan is to see if I can use Genie+ for a few of the longer-wait rides if necessary in MK, see how the wait times are looking, and if we seem to be okay without Genie+, start stacking for Epcot. If it turns out we don't use it much in MK and we're able to stack well for Epcot, we may be able to skip Genie+ for our Epcot day later on.

 

[planplanplan]

We will also be in MK on a 4:30 closure day - and like you, we have plans to hop to Epcot later on. I actually planned it intentionally since the crowds will probably be low in MK and we have hoppers anyway. I think it will actually a great day to be in MK! My plan is to see if I can use Genie+ for a few of the longer-wait rides if necessary in MK, see how the wait times are looking, and if we seem to be okay without Genie+, start stacking for Epcot. If it turns out we don't use it much in MK and we're able to stack well for Epcot, we may be able to skip Genie+ for our Epcot day later on.

The early closure day had been our last day at the parks and we were going going to stay for fireworks--going out with a bang so to speak. I had to upgrade to Hopper tickets so we could see MK fireworks another night, as all MK reservations were already booked out. It ended up being an expensive schedule change for us.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I'm a bit curious because I'm going to MK on the 15th just because it's closing early, since most persons who don't have hoppers will avoid the park. I don't have any intent to use Genie + but it would be interesting to see how Genie would change things, and how it might work when park hopping on an early closure. I would guess it could cut down wait times on the most popular attractions if nothing else, so I'd go about booking the popular ones. I do think ILLs will probably run out early, at least for Mine Train.

 

[minnimom]

We’re also going to MK on the 15th and hopping to Epcot for the evening. It‘s also our arrival day, so my strategy is to have a couple of LL’s stacked for between 12-4:30 before we get there. I was going to try to get one for JC, just to get that one out of the way, so that on our other MK days we can just continuously roll LL’s with earlier return times.

I’ll be very curious to hear how crowded it is at MK on May 3rd, since it’s closing at 4:30 that day as well.

 

[McFlea]

Same here! MK on 5/15 then hopping to EPCOT. The monorail will be crowded that afternoon!
I too am very curious to read how 5/3 goes.

 

[kc51570]

This week under a completely different scenario, we went to AK first, booked Safari as our first LL and also paid for FOP. I booked our second LL at 9:30 am for Epcot for Test Track. We got a return window of 8-9pm. Not a lot of interest in Frozen so not sure if returns would have been the same Or even gone at that point. We booked another couple rides in AK after we tapped into Safari but waited a few hours for a later time for Soarin. Everything else we could have booked immediately at Epcot and had a return time within 5 minutes. I imagine Epcot will be more crowded that week due to Guardians previews and may have more limited availability. It may be better just to keep tapping in MK, because you will probably only get one valuable LL at 7am for Epcot. With a MK open of 9 you won’t be eligible for another until 11 and the Epcot times will either be gone for the top 2 rides or not far enough in the future for you.

 

[Gearbm95]

Just made my advance DAS selections for 5/3 at MK. Splash Mountain, Jungle, BTMR and HM all had no return times available, it’s gonna be a disaster that day.

 

[EBM1228]

Just made my advance DAS selections for 5/3 at MK. Splash Mountain, Jungle, BTMR and HM all had no return times available, it’s gonna be a disaster that day.

Oh no! That’s our one MK day and i had been hoping it would be light.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Just made my advance DAS selections for 5/3 at MK. Splash Mountain, Jungle, BTMR and HM all had no return times available, it’s gonna be a disaster that day.

The booking window for DAS opens 30 days out from the end of your trip and many people apply right when their window opens, this sounds more like you were very late in booking and this is what’s left. And there with no evening slots to be booked with the park closing so early I think it would be pretty expected to see major MK ride’s DAS slots full at this point.

I definitely would not be using your DAS booking experience as a crowd indicator.

 

[shb5007]

I’ll be there 5/3, was hoping for “slower” day… but park reservations are sold out…

 

[HeiHei2018]

I was monitoring wait times and G+ availability today, and I would suggest trying for an early headliner (PP/JC) time with your 7 am G+ pick,. The lines were medium today, but there was near immediate G+ for most of the mid tier rides (that could save 30+ minutes in line). If you use the first G+ before 11, you could then start rolling through the mid tier rides with immediate availability.

 

[flea1267]

I know the weekend of 5/15 and 5/16 they are having cast member celebration for folks that have been there like 10, 15, 20 years - we have a friend who's a cast member and he's going on 5/16

 

[planplanplan]

Wrong thread.

 

[planplanplan]

We were there for the the 4:30 PM MK close yesterday and then hopped to Epcot.

Overall, MK was very light. Space and Big Thunder often had waits around 25-30 minutes. We did all of Fantasyland in a couple of hours with only a LL for PP. We even showed up for a parade as it appeared and got an easy spot on the curb on Main Street. By 3:30 PM lots of rides were walk ons. We rode Big Thunder twice in a row without any wait at all. The big exception was Jungle Cruise. It's wait built steadily as park close approached, exceeding 65 minutes at 4 PM. Cast members closed the line around 4 PM, which I didn't think they did. (I'd read that you can get in line until closing.) I didn't walk by 7DMT to see if they closed that line too, but it was listed as a 25 minute wait.

(There was also a strangely long line for Haunted Mansion at opening that I can't explain. Big Thunder was still almost a walk on and HM was over 45 minutes by 9:30 AM with a line into Liberty Square.)

The hop to Epcot took a long while as the park was emptying out. We probably should have hung out longer to shop, but we had a 6:10 LL for Soarin' that we almost didn't make (leaving MK around 4:50 PM). Touring Plans put Epcot at a 6 crowd level yesterday, but I bet most of that was post MK close. We had planned to pick up snacks from food stands, but they all had looooong lines. This led to hungry, unhappy kids who wanted to sit. If you're going to hop, get a reservation somewhere for dinner. We did okay on waits only because we had LL, though they required us crisscrossing the park (Soarin'--> Remy-->Test Track). Waits on the Frozen, Remy and TT were all over 60-90 minutes so we would have been very unhappy without LL.

As for Genie+, if you want Jungle Cruise on an early close day, get it early. It sold out fast and the line never dropped. There was pretty good other availability. I snagged some ride-right-away LL around noon that saved us time at Tomorrowland Raceway and Buzz. Space, Splash and Big Thunder were easy to get all day. Those were nice to have.

All day I also was trying to stack LL for Epcot. At 7 AM I got Remy as an ILL and PP at MK for 11:55 AM. Meant to get Frozen or Test Track at 11 AM (2 hours after opening) but they were both gone. Kept refreshing for a while with no luck. Used Genie+ for some easy MK LL at Space, Buzz and Tomorrowland Speedway since nothing at Epcot was available. Then eventually the times got late enough to pick up Soarin' for 6:10. I got a lucky late in the day (around 5:45 PM) and picked up a 7:35 PM Test Track. If you're going to hop to Epcot, choose between Jungle Cruise, PP, Frozen and TT. You'll get one of those, and maybe a second if you're lucky with a drop/cancelation.

Hop somewhere besides Epcot if you don't have LLs to shorten waits. It isn't a good evening to do World Showcase either, as it's all crowds. My guess is I would have done better stacking for a HS evening, rather than Epcot.

 

[georgina]

We were there for the the 4:30 PM MK close yesterday and then hopped to Epcot.

Overall, MK was very light. Space and Big Thunder often had waits around 25-30 minutes. We did all of Fantasyland in a couple of hours with only a LL for PP. We even showed up for a parade as it appeared and got an easy spot on the curb on Main Street. By 3:30 PM lots of rides were walk ons. We rode Big Thunder twice in a row without any wait at all. The big exception was Jungle Cruise. It's wait built steadily as park close approached, exceeding 65 minutes at 4 PM. Cast members closed the line around 4 PM, which I didn't think they did. (I'd read that you can get in line until closing.) I didn't walk by 7DMT to see if they closed that line too, but it was listed as a 25 minute wait.

(There was also a strangely long line for Haunted Mansion at opening that I can't explain. Big Thunder was still almost a walk on and HM was over 45 minutes by 9:30 AM with a line into Liberty Square.)

The hop to Epcot took a long while as the park was emptying out. We probably should have hung out longer to shop, but we had a 6:10 LL for Soarin' that we almost didn't make (leaving MK around 4:50 PM). Touring Plans put Epcot at a 6 crowd level yesterday, but I bet most of that was post MK close. We had planned to pick up snacks from food stands, but they all had looooong lines. This led to hungry, unhappy kids who wanted to sit. If you're going to hop, get a reservation somewhere for dinner. We did okay on waits only because we had LL, though they required us crisscrossing the park (Soarin'--> Remy-->Test Track). Waits on the Frozen, Remy and TT were all over 60-90 minutes so we would have been very unhappy without LL.

As for Genie+, if you want Jungle Cruise on an early close day, get it early. It sold out fast and the line never dropped. There was pretty good other availability. I snagged some ride-right-away LL around noon that saved us time at Tomorrowland Raceway and Buzz. Space, Splash and Big Thunder were easy to get all day. Those were nice to have.

All day I also was trying to stack LL for Epcot. At 7 AM I got Remy as an ILL and PP at MK for 11:55 AM. Meant to get Frozen or Test Track at 11 AM (2 hours after opening) but they were both gone. Kept refreshing for a while with no luck. Used Genie+ for some easy MK LL at Space, Buzz and Tomorrowland Speedway since nothing at Epcot was available. Then eventually the times got late enough to pick up Soarin' for 6:10. I got a lucky late in the day (around 5:45 PM) and picked up a 7:35 PM Test Track. If you're going to hop to Epcot, choose between Jungle Cruise, PP, Frozen and TT. You'll get one of those, and maybe a second if you're lucky with a drop/cancelation.

Hop somewhere besides Epcot if you don't have LLs to shorten waits. It isn't a good evening to do World Showcase either, as it's all crowds. My guess is I would have done better stacking for a HS evening, rather than Epcot.

Thanks for your report. I think we will skip G+ on the 15th, as we will be going back for deluxe evening hours another day.